THE SOURCE BLOG

About: Leah Selby, Student Fellow

Leah Selby Gray is a 3L at UC Hastings and a California native. After growing up in Sacramento, she attended UCLA where she double majored in Psychology and Comparative Literature. Now, she’s in the Bay Area pursuing a career in health law. She interned with the Department of Managed Health Care, and externed for Judge Seeborg in the Northern District Court in San Francisco. Leah currently serves as a senior production editor for the Hastings Law Journal, in which her note on network adequacy and balance billing will be published in the summer of 2019.

A Texas high school teacher recently made headlines after getting a $108,951 bill when a heart attack sent him to an out-of-network hospital. The ambulance rushed Drew Calver to the nearest emergency center, which his insurance did not cover, leaving him with an astronomical surprise medical bill. Unfortunately, surprise medical bills are becoming a ubiquitous part of health care in America. The question is: why? Most people have insurance, but insurance doesn’t cover everything. So when Calver was treated at an out-of-network facility, his insurance paid only $55,840 towards the …